Business Models

Guide to Intellectual Property & Fiscal Sponsorship Agreements for scientific, research, and archival projects

Our newest guide is designed to help scientific, research, and archival projects understand Intellectual Property and other important considerations when entering a Fiscal Sponsorship relationship.  

Are you an individual, researcher, scientist, small laboratory, or archivist interested in collaborating with a larger non-profit? Then you may need a fiscal sponsorship agreement. A fiscal sponsorship is when a non-profit organization offers their legal and tax-exempt status to an unincorporated project engaged in activities related to the sponsor’s mission.  It typically involves a fee (or percentage of donations) paid by the project to the sponsor in exchange for the sponsor non-profit’s administrative support and any other activites agreed upon and documented in the fiscal sponsorship agreement.

When entering a fiscal sponsorship, most people are primarily concerned with receiving the benefits of a larger supporting organization and being able to accept tax deductible donations.  However, in the rush to get things going, individuals often forget to ask some very important questions and can end up signing away their rights to their research, equipment, and even the name of their project. 

This guide will help you understand and clarify ownership of intellectual property rights when entering a fiscal sponsorship agreement. It will also identify some of the key considerations when entering a fiscal sponsorship agreement as a small lab or research project. 

Submitted by New Media Rights last modified Tue, 04/18/2023 - 4:49pm

Help us reach our next 1000 clients!

We've provided free and nominal fee legal services in over 1000 matters since 2008! These 1000 matters include creative projects, free speech, nonprofit services, and job-creating business ideas that may die on the vine, or be the victim of improper censorship without these services. But we can't do it without your help!  We're asking for your donation now to ensure our services will be available to the next 1000 clients who need it.

Your donation will help ensure we have the resources to reach a wide variety of clients to provide critical legal services. Clients much like Anita Sarkeesian. Here is her story of how we helped her fight improper takedowns of her pop culture critiques.  

Submitted by New Media Rights last modified Thu, 08/14/2014 - 12:31pm

Invest in creativity and slay the copyright trolls!

Dear New Media Rights community, 

We logged our 600th one-to-one assistance case since mid-2010 this week!

When you support New Media Rights, you invest in creativity, and the slaying of copyright trolls.

Tax-deductible donations from folks like you support creative projects, free speech, and job-creating ideas that may die on the vine without our assistance.  Just this afternoon I spent time gathering evidence on a large media company that has abused copyright law to takedown a video that is 100% legal.  We will use that information to restore this content and expose the abuse by this company.

Unfortunately, finding the spark for a great idea isn't the only hurdle creators face.   Sometimes they need legal services to even be able to share their creativity or innovation, and that's where New Media Rights steps in.  We're gearing up to make 2013 the year the independent creator fights back.
 
There's still time to for you help independent creators and protect free speech in 2013. 
 
Here's how you can make an invest in creativity:
 
Please donate, because if everyone we've assisted donated $35 then we could easily make our goal.
 
You can also donate through our website.  Consider becoming a Founder this year by donating $250 or more.  Your name or your company's name will be prominently displayed on our website as a supporter of New Media Rights.

Both ways of donating are tax-deductible, so donate before December 31 to make sure you get the deduction fro 2012!  And spread the word!

I'm grateful to have you as part of our community, and I look forward to slaying more copyright trolls with you in 2013!

Happy Holidays and all the best in the New Year,

Art Neill
Founder | New Media Rights
619-591-8870
art@newmediarights.org

No Rights Reserved

 

Submitted by Art Neill last modified Sun, 12/23/2012 - 11:17am

NMR to speak at New Media Expo 2013 January 6-8

The New Media Expo (formerly Blogworld / New Media Expo) is being held January 6-8 in Las Vegas.  

Art Neill & Shaun Spalding will be hosting a session.  Here's the description:

Legal Ease- What You Should Know to Stay on the Right Side of the Law

WebTV/Video > Producing

Let’s face it: the world we live in is multifarious. When your work involves posting videos online, you’ve just added a new, ever-changing layer of complexity to your life. What should you know about keeping out of trouble when it comes to copyrights, contracts, and collaborations? Legal professionals will answer your questions.

We're looking forward to taking part at New Media Expo '13!

Submitted by New Media Rights last modified Fri, 12/14/2012 - 3:13pm

New Media Rights sponsors Southern California innovation event: Startup Weekend San Diego

New Media Rights, proudly announces their sponsorship of Startup Weekend San Diego, beginning November 16th at California State University San Marcos. The event is a weekend-long, hands-on experience where innovators and aspiring technology entrepreneurs can hear from industry experts whether their startup ideas are viable.  New Media Rights' sponsorship of the event includes an offer of free legal services for the winning team. 

Startup Weekend San Diego is just one of the ways New Media Rights supports the next generation of innovators creating jobs for the San Diego region, and developing technologies to help improve the world.  New Media Rights works directly with technology startups, creators, and internet users every day in San Diego and throughout the U.S., offering free and reduced fee legal services on internet, media, and technology law matters. 

Submitted by New Media Rights last modified Fri, 12/14/2012 - 2:57pm

A video to our community: Big news about our future!

We want to share some big news about the future of New Media Rights and make a few simple requests of you.

Click here to watch the announcement
Click here to watch the video!

We recently finalized a partnership with California Western School of Law.  We’ll still be providing the same quality one-to-one legal services and educational guides for internet users and independent creators, but now, as part of the California Western community, we’ll be able to expand what we do more than ever before.

We’re really excited to be part of the California Western community. The broader internet community will benefit from the increased availability of free and reduced fee legal services, and Cal Western Students will get real-world experience in internet and media law.

We are still completely independently funded, so please support us in starting this partnership off on the right foot

Click here to donate now!

Submitted by New Media Rights last modified Tue, 03/08/2016 - 9:04am

Join New Media Rights in signing the Declaration of Internet Freedom to uphold basic rights in the digital world

New Media RIghts has joined a broad, international coalition of civil society groups calling on elected officials to sign the new Declaration of Internet Freedom and uphold basic rights in the digital world.

We encourage you to read and sign the Declaration, and encourage your elected officials to sign it as well.

 
Submitted by New Media Rights last modified Thu, 07/05/2012 - 7:19pm

How mobile apps track and share your location and other personal information

You are being tracked. The tracking device is your smartphone. And the tracker? Apple and Google. And your cellphone carrier. And software companies. And countless other third parties. And shopping malls. Oh, and also potentially law enforcement agencies.

Just what, exactly, are these groups tracking? And why? Read on to find out.

Submitted by Dan Terzian last modified Wed, 08/08/2012 - 6:39pm

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Learn about our legal services for: App Developers, Artists & Graphic Designers, Bloggers & Journalists, Clothing Designers, Entrepreneurs, E-commerce Business People & Startups, Filmmakers & YouTube creators, Public Broadcasting producers,Game Developers, Internet users & Smartphone users, Makers, Musicians, Non-Profits, Photographers, Scholars, Researchers, and Writers and Publishers.